Other uploaded scenarios in the Campaign:

Mountain's Fist

Map No.5 in The Saviour of Léugìm Community Campaign.

Short Description: Survive against the army's of Dayon in this elaborate, strong fortress. Use it wisely, it is filled with secret passways and towers.

Story

In the face of Lord Dayon�s evil onslaught, it is to Mountain�s Fist that the Kingdom�s people have retreated. You play as Almaya the Wizard, sent to lead the defence at the Kingdom�s stronghold while Gregory journeys to speak with the Ice God, Ithélâ. If Mountain�s Fist falls it will mean the end for Léugìm. There are no choices. Your back is to the Sgor Mountains. Lord Dayon�s hordes are before you. There is no escape. You must hold out. And Lord Dayon must cast his vast army against the walls of Mountain�s Fist�

Full story follows the map in the zip file!

Campaign Map

Click thumbnail pic to see 250k JPEG

Objectives

On Normal Setting:

Survive until the enemy invasions end and the enemy army is dead.

Game starts January 1078

Game ends around 1082-85)

Hints for all players

I have a few strategies I use myself when playing this map, but I'll leave it to everyone to find out for themselves what they think are the smartest moves.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy it, as always. This map has been finished for overa year! It was first intended for the Crusader Campaign, which is now dead.

Zip Contents

Map and story by Lord Michael 1.

Acknowledgements

Authors who worked on this map were:
Lord Michael I for writing the story, Ericgolf and Lord Michael I again, for playtesting this map. Ericgolf also made the maproom thread for this map, which I appreciated alot.

Also Thanks to:
FroobaChoob for starting and organising the campaign;
Younghappy for taking over from FroobaChoob when he had to go offline;
Sir Ravenclaw for the campaign logo graphic;
Younghappy for creating all the campaign maps and submitting news articles;
SHH staff for posting up the news articles;
Ericgolf for the DL page template.

I think you've missed out an end 'a' tag after 'The Lost Estate' :)
This map should do brilliantly! :D

Sulis

Posted on 01/07/08 @ 08:44 AM

Rating

4.2

Breakdown

Playability

4.0

Balance

4.0

Creativity

4.0

Map Design

4.0

Story/Instructions

5.0

Playability: 4
Chapter 5 returns to the similar scene that greeted you in chapter 1 with a number of invasions to defend against. This time, the invasions are much harder, better armoured and absolutely huge in numbers. Having a massive army of your own, I initially though that this would be a walk in the park with my crossbowmen able to slice through the attackers with the greatest of ease. I was wrong.. very wrong. The sheer numbers and determination of the pikemen posed a problem from the very start and it developed into a strategic battle with movement of my army to various locations in an attempt to hold off against the black horde. Protecting the second gatehouse is a key part of this scenario. Should it fall too early, as it did in my first attempt, you're in for a very tough scrap. It's not easy pulling off a large scale invasion map such as this, as more often than not they don't work quite as planned. This scenario works like a dream though and the AI attacks with speed, force and deadly accuracy resulting in a highly addictive map.

Balance: 4
No matter what approach you take, how you organise your forces or what you do to keep them away, this is a tough battle. The enemy crossbomen can easily wipe the outer walls, so retreating to the inner keep area and the associated defences is a good idea. Pikemen are best used here to slow down the attackers if your second gatehouse fails, with the crossbowmen picking off the attackers as they are held up. Good balance is achieved overall, with victory not secured until the third attempt. Large numbers of crossbowmen were left behind after one attempt outside the outer walls as the inner gatehouse held, resulting in some sweeping up of the remaining attackers by my forces.

Creativity: 4
This scenario is all about tactics, huge armies and plenty of activity. Defending those precious gatehouses is key to either victory or an early defeat. A good score is awarded for taking such a huge risk with large invasions. Simply placing masses of defending units doesn't work and there is a definite skill needed to address balance issues resulting from large numbers of units on the map at the same time. Dougleass delivers a highly polished map here. Great stuff!

Map Design: 4
The landscape is well modelled, allowing free movement of the AI across the canvas and ensuring that the AI attacks without undue hindrance. It's bleak, stark and foreboding to look at, suiting the atmosphere of the scenario laid down by the story. The castle area is good, with plenty of towers and battlements gving an almost fantasy appearance. Shades of Helm's Deep in the appearance, although I suspect this isn't intentional, but the layout lends itself very well the defending against large invasions. Good use of himalaya and some lovely little pathways to access the more remote defensive towers.

Story/Instructions: 5
Another great story that once again fits the scenario extremely well. It's hard to fault the quantity and quality of the content and it is pleasing to see such a strong supporting campaign thread and supporting information throughout this series. Lord Michael's storyline is developing beautifully. Great stuff once again!

Additional Comments:
This invasion map is huge in scale, huge in content and approaching epic proportions. Very much recommended, even as a stand-alone mission in its' own right!

Lord Michael IStaff

Posted on 01/07/08 @ 11:32 AM

Thanks for another of your long, detailed and great reviews, Sulis! It's great to know you're enjoying the campaign!

artofmath

Posted on 01/17/08 @ 10:07 PM

My playing experience was exactly opposite of Sulis'. Instead of a nerve-bending siege, I got a movie to watch. I followed Vauban's advice in defending in a siege, which was to pull back from open, indefensble land (outer walls) to more defensive land (inner citadel), taking every soldier with me. So I did just that. The Ai lost all its power, as soon as the first gatehouse fell, every enemy charged in - to meet a human wall bristling with pikes. Once my pikes were dead, the enemy were burnt to a crisp by the pitch ditches, and the crossbowmen were shredded immediately.

I suspect that when you guys play, you try to hold on to every last bit of fortification you have - the siege might have worked well like that, but fell to proper strategy. My crossbowmen were too numerous, and their army lacked siege equipment.

Actually I am aware of that you can do, what you describe here, and there was no way I could think of to remove it. But if you decide not to retreat, the map is much more enyojable.

Steve_1805

Posted on 07/09/08 @ 08:02 PM

Dude, I frickin' love this map!!! I love the levels on the castle, they were awesome! The attacks were brilliant too, they were numerous amounts of troops, not too many, but enough to pose a threat and give me a good challenge. I must of played this map about 10 times already, using different tactics each time!

The map design was truely awesome, but I have to ask, how long did it take to get the entire area Hymalayan level!? Must of taken ages!! I love the valley and everything else! Awesomee!

The story to this too is Brilliant! Absolutely fantastic!

And I have to thank you for inspiring me on my map 'The Final Stand'. Thanks!

And i'd love for you to review it for me. >.<

Bloody hell, I might as well have reviewed this map, if I ever did, i'd give it 5.